Apple continues to gain ground in US smartphone market as Android shrinks

Apple not only remained dominant in the U.S. smartphone market during the June quarter, but was also the only top-five OEM to exhibit gains over the three-month period, according to new data from research firm comScore.

The latest numbers from comScore's MobiLens tracker, released on Friday, show iPhone grew its share of the U.S. market to 44.1 percent in June, up 1.5 percent quarter over quarter.

Trailing Apple was Samsung, LG, Motorola and HTC, all of which suffered minor declines in marketshare, suggesting Apple is winning over Android converts. Samsung's piece of the pie dropped 0.2 points to 28.1 percent, while smaller players LG and Motorola both saw dips of 0.1 percent to end the quarter with a respective 8.3 percent and 4.9 percent marketshare. HTC was hardest hit with a fall of 0.4 percent for the quarter, dropping its take down to 3.4 percent of the market.

As for America's most popular operating system, Android continues to see its once commanding lead whittled away by Apple's iOS. Google's share of the market dropped from 52.4 percent to 51.6 percent, shrinking the buffer zone between No. 2 Apple to 7.5 points.

Both Microsoft and BlackBerry saw a negative 0.4 point change during the June quarter, dropping their share of smartphone subscribers to 2.9 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. Symbian held steady, but trailed the pack with a 0.1-percent marketshare.

Since launching larger-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models last year, Apple has gobbled up marketshare from competing manufacturers. Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones over the June quarter, a record-setting performance that drove company revenue to $49.6 billion. That upward trend is expected to continue as the company prepares to launch next-generation handsets in the coming weeks.

According to the latest rumor, Apple's so-called "iPhone 6s" series could debut at a special event on on Sept. 9. The smartphone duo is widely expected to feature a faster "A9" SoC with 2GB of RAM, Force Touch display technology and camera upgrades.